WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state go to on June 22, the White House stated on Wednesday, as Washington works to deepen ties with the world’s largest democracy.

“The visit will strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including in defense, clean energy, and space,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated in an announcement.

Biden has been desirous to strengthen relations with India as a part of his bid to win what he has framed as a contest between free and autocratic societies, particularly China.

Asked about human rights issues in India, Jean-Pierre defended the go to, telling reporters that Biden believes “this is an important relationship that we need to continue and build on as it relates to human rights.”

During a February go to to Washington by India’s nationwide safety adviser, Ajit Doval, the United States and India launched a partnership to deepen ties on navy tools, semiconductors and synthetic intelligence.

New Delhi has pissed off Washington by collaborating in navy workout routines with Russia and growing purchases of the nation’s crude oil, a key supply of funding for the struggle in Ukraine. Washington has been pushing New Delhi to do extra to punish Russia for the Ukraine invasion.

Ashley Tellis, a former U.S. authorities official behind U.S. efforts to interact extra carefully with India, precipitated a stir this month, arguing within the Foreign Affairs periodical that Washington’s expectations of U.S.-India relations are misplaced notably in terms of China, regardless of shared issues about Beijing’s rising energy.

While the United States has centered on “contributions toward coalition defense,” he wrote, “New Delhi sees things differently. It does not presume that American assistance imposes any further obligations on itself.”

The Biden administration had also overlooked India’s “democratic erosion” under Modi, and “its unhelpful foreign policy choices, such as its refusal to condemn Moscow’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine,” Tellis added.

Modi’s relationship with Washington has evolved since 2005, when the administration of President George W. Bush denied him a visa under a U.S. law barring entry to foreigners who have committed “notably extreme violations of non secular freedom.”

That move stemmed from the killing of more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, in sectarian riots in the Indian state of Gujarat shortly after Modi became its chief minister. Modi denied wrongdoing.

Former President Barack Obama invited Modi to the White House in 2014, after his Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies swept India’s elections, putting him in position to be prime minister in a seismic political shift that gave the Hindu nationalist and his party a mandate for sweeping economic reform.

(This story has been refiled to say ‘he,’ not ‘she,’ in paragraph 8)

Reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu;

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.